partner made redundant- at wits end...

samantham06

Hi,

My partner was made redundant 4 weeks ago due to lack of work, and since then we have had a huge lot of bad luck..
Basically I had my son 3 months ago so am still on maternity leave, so I cant go back to work, my partner has been looking for and applying for jobs every day non stop since he was made redundant but just hasnt had any luck..

Our only income at the moment is £110.00 a week from tax credits and £112.00 a week from my maternity pay.
We have just found out that my partner is not entitled to jobseekers allowance as he hasnt paid enough NI contributions in 2006?! and we are not entitled to any help with the rent or council tax as apparently we have enough to live on.

Our outgoing per month are...
£300 rent
£120 Council Tax
£90 for both lots of insurance
£15 child trust fund
£20 sky
£50 BT
£55 Debt repayments
£40 gas
£22 Electric
£20 tv license
£60ish catalouge

.... plus food and petrol, nappies milk ect..

As you can see it just doesnt add up!!

And to top it all today my partner got a £200 fine and six points on his license for driving with no insurance... He was driving my car (which I have insured) and thought that because he had fully comp insurance on his own car that would cover him to drive other veichles (it usually does!!) But apparently not- We honestly did not know that otherwise of course he wouldnt have driven!
Thing is aswell is that he is a mechanic so with points on his license its going to be almost impossible to get a job!!!

So we really just do not have the money for the fine, or anything!
Anyone have any advice on what bills I could get away with not paying, or any advice wuld be much appreciated....
Sorry to go on but just had enogh and needed to let it all out :mad:

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annamc75

Get yourself down to the CAB on monday - make sure that you take a list of everything that you are getting and everything that you should be paying. They can negotiate a stay on some bills or get some interest frozen. Dont delay but over the weekend I would post a SOA on here accounting for every penny and every debt and let some of the experts on here loose on them.

Good luck

Ax

samantham06

thankyou.x

taxi73

Hi there do you not get child benefit as well?
The only priority bills are rent, council tax, gas, electric and food...all others can be stopped for now.Also are the cars essential can one be sold.
Have you looked on entitled to.com and put your income in there to see what it comes up with.It may also be worth a call to your local CAB to see if they can help you.
I really don't have many answers given the limited amount of information.
The other thing that struck me was if you are getting tax credits and neither of you working at the moment...should these be stopped and then you get IS and then you won't pay rent or council tax.Have you phoned tax credits regarding the change in circumstances?....I could be wrong here but it may be worth checking things with the CAB ...
Sorry I cannot be of more use to you.We also have a benefit board on here and if you post on there as well as here somebody may have the answers.
Just bear with us as somebody will be along that knows the answers.

lynzpower

Ok first up, can you cancel your sky? You are really ounder the cosh here and every penny counts. If you can cancel that, you should be a bit better off ( or not as worse off )

Second, is there anything that you all can sell? Think about ebaying, or freeads, car boot sale and so forth.

I dont understand how your OH hasnt paid enough Ni- was he self employed for any point of 06?

mrcow

You can return to work as early as you like.

You just need to give them written notice. In the circumstances, it would seem a prudent move for the livelihood of your family (I know I'd be back in a heartbeat in your situation). How much do you earn normally?

Also - do yourselves a favour and call Sky right now and cancel it. £20 is better off in your pocket. You'll still get freeview channels through your Sky box.

thepinkladez_2

hi sam, please try not to worry, easier saidthan done i know!!there are loads of great people on here that can provide advice and support.

firstly i notice you say any bills you culd get away with not paying, i know that its hard right now but not paying your bills will cause more problems in the long run so the simple answer is no!! You need to make sure you keep up to date with your priority debts:
rent
gas/ elec
tv lic
fines
etc
as these could cause you to lose your home, imprisonment, baliffs etc.
there are other ways to help with this, firstly talk to your creditors about the possibility of making reduced payments, you may find that lots of companies are willing to do this.If this doesn't work you could make token payments until things get better, there is loads of info on this if this is what needs to happen.

secondly have you got any ppi on your catalogue debts that you can use if you are made redundant?

thepinkladez_2

[quote=samantham06;13009061


Our outgoing per month are...
£300 rent
£120 Council Tax
£90 for both lots of insurance can you switch this at it seems high? have a look at one of the comparison sites.
£15 child trust fund do you need to make this payment when things are really tight?
£20 sky can you cancel this?
£50 BT this seems high could you try to lower this
£55 Debt repayments what debts are these?
£40 gas are these a prepaid meter?if not have you seen if you can switch?
£22 Electric
£20 tv license this seems high?are you paying off arrears?
£60ish catalouge you could make token payments on this


.

[/quote]
can you put down what you spend on food, petrol etc? also what you get child tax, working tax, child benefit and anything else you might get, this will give us a better idea so we can help you some more.

Buffythedebtslayer

(((((((((hugs)))))))))))

Ok, you can't do much over the weekend but I would suggest you look for stuff to ebay - I know how that could sound silly but it would be doing something how ever small towards the debts and bills. It may at least give some sense of control. and check out if there are any car boot sales soon near you- collect for that too

And think VERY hard, have you any savings anywhere? any premium bonds? anything from when you were a kid perhaps ? that you could use now? Do you have any points (tescos etc) that could help with the shopping? what access to credit do you have? Not good idea I know but in an emergency?

The people here are amazing and on Monday you will get help in the real world.
take care hon
xx

Rummer

Hello

I am really sorry to hear about your situation, it is hard enough getting your head around having a new baby. It would be difficult but is there anyway that you could go back to work? At least your husband would be at home to look after your baby.
If your son is under three months you may be eligible for a maternity grant. The tax credit people are open over the weekend, make sure that you inform them of your change in circumstances ASAP so that they can process any increase in payment you may be due. I agree that it is important you make an appointment with the CAB.
In the mean time if you are up to it you could list books/CDs/DVDs on Amazon and other items on ebay as every little counts. Also have a look at the food and other essentials that you have in and head over to the Old Style threads to see how you can make these things last.

Take care and lets us know how you are getting on.

penguin83

Sorry to hear about your OH - mine is self employed too so can sympathise. Agree with others about going back to work yourself to increase income. I had to go back when my son was 10 weeks old as I was losing 900.00 a month.

With regards to the Child Trust Fund - stop paying it and keep track how much you 'owe' ie what you would have normally paid and make extra payments when you are in a better position.

Hope things change for you soon x x